Literary Theory: Weekly Response 11

"Persepolis is a disruptive text on many levels. It delivers, for example, comfortable liberal notions of our common humanity in its representation of the universal desire for personal freedom. At the same time, it demonstrates liberalism's need for an abject or menacing other that is excluded from the common humanity by allowing the reader to reconfirm stereotypes of, for example, subjugated, veiled Muslim women and of post-revolutionary Iran as a threatening and alien place."

- Estranging the Familiar, Naghibi

“The regime had understood that one person leaving her house while asking herself: 
Are my trousers long enough?'
Is my veil in place?' 
Can my make-up be seen?' 
Are they going to whip me?' 

No longer asks herself: 

Where is my freedom of thought?' 
Where is my freedom of speech?' 
My life, is it livable?'
What's going on in the political prisons?” 

- The Complete Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi

What makes Persepolis such a profound and disruptive text?

Persepolis is disruptive for me because it uncovers a world I was previously ignorant about. Because I didn't know anything about the Iranian revolution and little about the treatment of Muslim women, reading about it in Persepolis was shocking. In the novel, I got to see first hand the kinds of thoughts that run through the minds of Muslim women on a daily basis. It's shocking enough to hear about the way Muslim women are treating, but through Persepolis, I got to see the perspective of someone that can actually go into vast detail about not only what happens, but the emotional and psychological impact it causes, which, for me, leaves me with a personal connection to the character, and in turn, the point of the story.